Group collects items for ‘blessings bags’

MARTINSBURG – In an effort to provide for those going without during the cold holiday season, the Eastern Panhandle Medical Reserve Corps is collecting items for “blessings bags” to distribute to the homeless Christmas Day.

Operating out of the Berkeley and Jefferson county health departments, the Eastern Panhandle MRC is a community-based organization whose members and volunteers promote health and well-being.

In what she hopes will become an annual event, Ashely Petrolino, Eastern Panhandle MRC Coordinator, said this is the first year the organization is compiling the blessing bags.

The Eastern Panhandle MRC is currently accepting donation until Dec. 18. Donation boxes are located inside the Berkeley and Jefferson County health departments.

To date, Petrolino said the event has been well-received within the community, especially local businesses including Holiday Inn, Roadway Inn and Motel 6, which have provided a large quantity of travel/hotel-size shampoos.

The bags will be distributed in Berkeley County during St. Luke’s United Methodist Church’s soup kitchen on Christmas Day. Petrolino is still searching for a location to hand out bags in Jefferson County.

“The idea is to get as many as we can together. You can never really say for sure, but our basic number is 150,” Petrolino said. “We just want to help the homeless out, which is a greatly in-need population.”

According to Petrolino, the blessing bags event is part of the organization’s desire to increase outreach in the community and establish outreach as one of the main principles for the Eastern MRC.

Additional activities the Eastern Panhandle MRC participates in include administering flu shots to the homeless, volunteering at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church’s soup kitchen and assisting health departments during county emergencies.

-Staff writer Samantha Cronk can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 132, or twitter.com/scronkJN.